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The Home Affairs committee report - which looks at the UK Border Agency's work between December last year and March - also called for the agency to make all its inspections of colleges unannounced, rather than giving them advance notice so key people and documents can be ready.

"If we are to eliminate bogus colleges from the education landscape and employers that abuse the immigration system then visits will have to be unannounced, robust and thorough," it said.

The latest damning report on the UK Border Agency's work has also said the Home Affairs committee did not believe the Government's aim of cutting the 260,000 student visas issued each year by a quarter would benefit the UK.

Students should be excluded from the net migration figures instead, it said.

Britain would then continue to attract international students, a market worth £7.9 billion, and still be able to aim to meet David Cameron's pledge to cut net migration from 250,000 to the tens of thousands by 2015, the report said.

Keith Vaz, the committee's chairman, said the backlog, which will take years to clear, was unacceptable, adding that the agency seems to have "acquired its own Bermuda triangle".

He added:

It's easy to get in, but near impossible to keep track of anyone, let alone get them out. This is the first time that the committee has collated all the cases at the UK Border Agency that await resolution. This backlog is now equivalent to the entire population of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Missing foreign criminals, failed asylum seekers, illegal immigrants and others refusing to leave the country make up more than 275,000 cases, which the agency still needs to deal with, the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee said.

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The Shadow Home Secretary has criticised Theresa May over the issue of Border security, following delays and long queues at Heathrow Airport. Yvette Cooper said that the delays are "bad for travellers and security".